Ancient Greece Theater Masks, Actors

Michael Lahanas

Antikes Griechisches Theater, Masken, Schauspieler

[Solon] went to see Thespis himself, as the ancient custom was, act: and after the play was done, he addressed him, and asked him if he was not ashamed to tell so many lies before such a number of people; and Thespis replying that it was no harm to say or do so in play, Solon vehemently struck his staff against the ground: "Ah," said he, "if we honor and commend such play as this, we shall find it some day in our business."Plutarch: The Life of Solon

Mask from the 3rd c. BC

Mask from Piraeus, 4th c. BC National Museum of Athens

The Greeks did, however, develop one acoustical device of considerable value: the masks worn by actors. In addition to providing exaggerated facial expressions appropriate to the various roles, the masks served as megaphones that improved the mechanical coupling between the voice-generating mechanism and the surrounding air. From Architectural Acoustics ,

There were also other methods used to improve the acoustics:

So the vessels called yheia by the Greeks, which are placed in certain recesses under the seats of theatres, are fixed and arranged with a due regard to the laws of harmony and physics, their tones being fourths, fifths, and octaves; so that when the voice of the actor is in unison with the pitch of these instruments, its power is increased and mellowed by impinging thereon. Vitruvius, de Architectura

..It allowed the actors to be seen and have there emotions understood. The subtle gestures of an actors face would little farther than the people in the first two or three rows. The mask was adopted as a tool to help them be more visible to all of the audience From Visibility

Alexander, the tyrant of Pherae (this last should be his only appellation; he should not be permitted to disgrace the name of Alexander), as he watched a tragic actor, felt himself much moved to pity through enjoyment of the acting. He jumped up, therefore, and left the theatre at a rapid pace, exclaiming that it would be a dreadful thing, if, when he was slaughtering so many citizens, he should be seen to weep over the sufferings of Hecuba and Polyxena. And he came near visiting punishment upon the actor because the man had softened his heart, as iron in the fire. Plutarch, Moralia: "On the Fortune of Alexander."

One famous story of ancient Greece was that of the actor Polus performing in the Electra of Sophocles, at Athens in the 4th century BC. The plot requires Electra to carry an urn supposed to contain the ashes of Orestes. Polus brought the ashes of his dead son on stage so as to generate the requisite feelings for a cry of lamentation.

Actor playing the role of a slave sitting on an altar and emptying the purse he just stole. Made in Boeotia, ca. 400–375 BC. Height 3,75 inches. Location: Louvre, Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities (CA 265) [Source]

When I find myself in the shell of an ancient theater I look at the landscape, beyond, always so much well chosen and immediately then I look around the spectators. I try to see their eyes, thousands eyes in line. Looking at a detail, at a a moment which cannot be transmitted to others. Not at a concrete action that I could easily suppose... The eyes extinguish with their emotions, as stars die and what remains is the empty space, so much desertness. G. Seferis ( Γ. Σεφέρης, "Μέρες", Δευτέρα 26 Ιουνίου 1950 Στρατονίκεια Αντιόχου Σωτήρος , from a Greek Website)